Checkups allow for diagnosing illnesses in their early stages before symptoms have become apparent, as in the case of some cardiovascular and degenerative pathologies or even in the case of tumors.

A thorough checkup always requires that medical professionals conduct a lengthy interview with patients. The patients’ medical history must be drawn up in order to understand their particular risk profile. These medical specialists will be in charge of requesting the necessary tests and then explaining the results.

Based on the scientific evidence, doctors will decide what kinds of physical exams are to be done, how often, and at what age they are recommended. Any checkup must be tailored to the patient—as what we look for depends on each particular individual, their environment, profession, and family and individual medical history.

For this reason the best prevention programs use a therapeutic approach. In addition to the general blood and urine tests, electrocardiogram, hearing test, spirometry test, abdominal sonogram, specific tests are added “in keeping with the patient profile” in order to detect any risk of cardiovascular, liver or kidney disease, as well as to enable early detection of colon, prostate, lung and skin cancer. Women complete their checkup with a gynecological exam.

A colonoscopy is the easiest way to detect colon cancer in time. Even if patients are symptom free and have no family history of the disease, a colonoscopy should be done every 5 years after the age of 50.

The risk of suffering chest angina or a heart attack is greater for individuals who smoke, have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or are under stress. Conducting a cardiac stress test means less risk of suffering a serious cardiovascular event.

After the age of 50 men should have an annual urological exam that includes a blood test to screen for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) to rule out cancer.